Create an Outlook Macro to Send Email to Spiceworks

Introduction

Everyday you receive loads of email, and only some of it is related to helpdesk tickets. Spiceworks email processing let's you forward emails to ticket numbers easily by adding [Ticket #xyz] to the subject.

It's not difficult, but it can take an extra minute or so for each email you get. That adds up quickly over the course of the day.

This how-to covers how to write an Outlook Macro that you can use to quickly process email from tickets. The particular code has been tested in Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2013.

Steps
(6 total)

1

Add the Developer Pane to the Ribbon in Outlook

Microsoft has a quick tutorial on how to bring up the Developer tab in Outlook. Here's the link:

Create a new Visual Basic Project

Import and Edit the Code

You can copy and paste the macro code in from the attached file or import the file from the File > Import File option.

Make sure you change the mail to address to your spiceworks helpdesk. Search for the string "Technology Helpdesk" and replace that with the name of the helpdesk in your network.

That should be all you need to do to get going. Here's how it works.

When you have an email window open you can run the macro.
(1) The program asks for a ticket number (ex. 37)
(2) It automatically creates a new message to send to your helpdesk with the subject line [Ticket #37] ...
(3) It appends some important info about the previous message formated as follows:

#private
This message has been sent to the helpdesk.
From My Friend
To Me
Date 7/25/2014 10:47:50 AM
CC
Subject The Latest News from Aerohive
Attachments:
Attachments Count: 0

Add a Custom Button to Call spiceForward Step 2

From the message window
(1) Select File > Options
(2) Select Customize Ribbon
(3) Create a New Group under the Message section of "Main Tabs" Call it Spicey
(4) Select "Macros" from the "Choose Commands From" dropdown list
(5) Add the macro to the Spicey Group
(6) Rename it Helpdesk This
(7) Change the icon as well if you like. I prefer the sticky note.

That does it!

6

Click the Helpdesk This button

Click the helpdesk this button from the ribbon in a message window to send a copy of the message to your helpdesk.

Conclusion

This macro should make your life a little easier when users forget to send requests to the helpdesk or you receive shipping notifications for your orders. It makes filing an email as simple as typing in the ticket number.

Good luck and let me know if you build off this! There's definitely functionality I would like to add to it like including checkboxes to mark off custom attributes, categories, etc...